There's a video overview over at BoLS of Mantic's new Kings of War rulebook, for fantasy wargaming. The post seems to have been overlooked - or sacrificed - with all the arguing about a 40K rules interpretation, and the book itself may be a little overshadowed by the successful DreadBall Kickstarter. Jake Thornton is posting design notes on that here.
(Update: There's a gameplay video now - thanks to Paul of the Man Cave for the news.)
The simple KoW ruleset inspired me to wonder what a very minimal but fresh miniatures wargame could look like, and over the past day I've sketched out a ruleset small enough for one blogpost. But I won't post it just yet because there are so many others already.
Instead, I'll post some propluristemic content which came to me in the process. It's for wargaming and tactical roleplaying both, to add possible new depth to the wargame, but help streamline for a DM/GM when number of monsters or henchmen in a band is high.
Propluristemic content is intended for various systems and settings with some modification.
Ducking out
If an individual (miniature, monster and/or NPC) is measurably harmed, whether killed or injured, this individual is considered to be out of action.
There is then a 50% chance (e.g. a 4+ on 1D6) that the nearest friendly individual follows - as a reflex, in fear or to give assistance. This ripples out, with the next nearest friendly individual one degree less likely to do the same (e.g. 5+ on 1D6), and so on until there is no chance.
Test for each individual out of action in each subsequent round or turn. There is a 50% chance that the individual is back in action at the level of health before the measurable harm occurred, but a minimum result for the test means that the individual is lost.
The out of action are assumed to be prone, or immobilised at half usual ability if there are no rules for this. If spacings have to be maintained, this is still the case. However, they will be left behind if their squad or band flees, unless ruled otherwise in advance.
The DM/GM may choose to begin or suspend use of this rule at any appropriate time.
This could disrupt plans or bring in new tactical options, and simplify and so speed up large non-PC combats in roleplaying if the individuals would usually survive one strike.
(Update: There's a gameplay video now - thanks to Paul of the Man Cave for the news.)
The simple KoW ruleset inspired me to wonder what a very minimal but fresh miniatures wargame could look like, and over the past day I've sketched out a ruleset small enough for one blogpost. But I won't post it just yet because there are so many others already.
Instead, I'll post some propluristemic content which came to me in the process. It's for wargaming and tactical roleplaying both, to add possible new depth to the wargame, but help streamline for a DM/GM when number of monsters or henchmen in a band is high.
Ducking out
If an individual (miniature, monster and/or NPC) is measurably harmed, whether killed or injured, this individual is considered to be out of action.
There is then a 50% chance (e.g. a 4+ on 1D6) that the nearest friendly individual follows - as a reflex, in fear or to give assistance. This ripples out, with the next nearest friendly individual one degree less likely to do the same (e.g. 5+ on 1D6), and so on until there is no chance.
Test for each individual out of action in each subsequent round or turn. There is a 50% chance that the individual is back in action at the level of health before the measurable harm occurred, but a minimum result for the test means that the individual is lost.
The out of action are assumed to be prone, or immobilised at half usual ability if there are no rules for this. If spacings have to be maintained, this is still the case. However, they will be left behind if their squad or band flees, unless ruled otherwise in advance.
The DM/GM may choose to begin or suspend use of this rule at any appropriate time.
This could disrupt plans or bring in new tactical options, and simplify and so speed up large non-PC combats in roleplaying if the individuals would usually survive one strike.
_
2 comments:
Makes me think of the "Free Escape" rule in White Wolf's LARP system.. at any time, a player can call free escape, and their character gets away. (As long as nobody has any extraordinary method of directly preventing this)
They also allowed you to leave "Stop Time" (a combat currently going turn by turn) if you had nothing to do with it... essentially leaving the "bubble" of frozen time to wander away and see what others are up to.
In both cases, you could not return for a reasonable period. (Free escape suggesting you have run and hid, and in leaving stop time, you can't run for help and come back when realistically, only maybe 30 seconds have passed)
Interesting ideas, and they'd definitely make sense in a game that has the player more heavily invested in the character, or one that's more about exploring space and interactions.
They also feel very cinematic, but in the sense of the medium more than the effect, so they could fit the film-making theme of Advanced Fighting Fantasy, and maybe systems with similar approaches. They ought to be fairly easy to add in as well, and maybe more or less directly, as is.
In this case I'm suggesting the individuals be only non-PCs to avoid it being any kind of get-out, but my mind was more on an older school, high-risk playstyle, so I'd ruled it out without even really thinking about it. That said, making it an option for PCs there could be a useful bridge between an older style and more modern expectations.
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